Gertrude -- the Cry/ Knowledge And a Girl

by Howard Barker

Drama. Barker's recent work, now firmly part of the international repertoire, is characterized by an ever deepening investment in language and metaphor; a poet of the stage, his texts resonate at many levels of the European cultural past and illuminate its present. The plays in this volume review the roles of two legendary women in fiction--Gertrude, Hamlet's mother and Snow White's Wicked Stepmother--placing them at centre stage and offering a fresh interpretation of their attitudes and actions.

Genres: Plays

5 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Howard Barker is an English playwright. His plays have been produced at the Royal Court, the RSC and the National Theatre, throughout Europe and the USA and by his own company, The Wrestling School. He is best known as the exponent of the Theatre of Catastrophe. He is a theatre theorist, a poet and a painter. His work has been the subject of a number of book-length studies and academic conferences.

Reviews

[kiara skene]

what the actual fuck?!
this play is the literal translation of la petite mort especially with the incredulous objectification and sexual infatuation of Gertrude by all the other characters. the language in this is FULL of rich imagery that is both horrifying and almost snobbish. i’m not sure how i feel about barker after reading this
(also this text is 144 pages long not 5)

[Theory4brains]

If I ever need to prove in court why men should be banned from writing any more books, this is my first piece of evidence.

I hate this incel bullshit.

I read all 93 misogynistic pages of this sad excuse for "art" and all I learned is that Howard Barker really fucking hates women and thinks they're evil, conniving, sexual monsters who will destroy the lives of men just for another fuck

[Garance]

Travail intéressant de relecture/réécriture sur les figures féminines de femme/mère dans Hamlet, et dans Blanche-Neige. Malgré ce travail avec l'écriture crue de Barker, la notion de désir et de maternité, j'ai vite été perdue dans ma lecture car ce qui se passait est assez nébuleux et difficile à suivre.

[Anna]

Twisted - the word that comes to mind when reading these plays. And not only for the plots: Barker chooses not to include any stage directions, and sometimes his characters speak in all-caps, without any punctuation. I can't imagine what this would be like for actors to act and directors to direct, but for a reader, these plays - especially Gertrude - are weird, thrilling; they explore raw sexuality and feral needs without care for offending audiences, and this brashness is refreshing. Similar to Pinter's works, the ends of these plays leave you breathless, like a punch to the stomach.